Pro Drummer Keith Capsuto Joins EV Endorser Team

October 16th, 2006

Electro-Voice is very pleased to add professional drummer/drum clinician Keith Capsuto to its family of wired/wireless microphone endorsers. Keith has a long history of involvement with esteemed jazz and fusion groups and works extensively as one of the nation’s top drum clinicians. Keith is a longtime supporter of EV products and uses a full complement of EV mics on his kit and ancillary percussion. Please be on the look-out for clinics in your area!

Keith Capsuto - Bio

At the age of four, Keith was banging on every pot and pan that was in his Mother’s kitchen. Keith’s Dad would come home from work and find his son taking lamp shades off the lights in their home to create a “make shift“ drum set. Both parents had a talk and decided that it was time for drum lessons! As a fifth birthday present, Keith received a small trap set, and a journey to one of Chicago’s largest music stores to meet a tall man with a thin tie who became his first drum instructor.

The music gene was in his blood. Keith’s mother at a young age originally studied violin and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and his father also came from a long line of musically inclined brothers and sisters.

By age 8, he was already attempting to form different bands and entered elementary school talent shows. For many years, Keith stuck with his drums and his family’s commitment to music, alongside his older brother, who plays guitar and keyboards, and his older sister, who plays the piano and loves to sing. His parents provided the love and inspiration needed through the worst times so they could positively focus on practicing solo and as a trio for hours.

By the age of 16, Keith was working with a High School band by the name of Windrose, which was a full seven piece group complete with a horn section taking after their idols, Chicago, Tower of Power, Santana, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. A music management company, Glenn Henry Entertainment Agency, heard the band play and started booking them throughout Southern California.

While performing with Windrose, among the vast musical audiences, the leader of the Wes Marquett Jazz Quartet recruited him for several jobs, including working in the studio.

At age 20, Keith began working with several bands. While on the road with Windrose, he became extremely ill. A fill-in drummer was found and Keith returned home to find out that he was suffering with a disease known as “Ulcerative Colitis.“ This disease progressed to a colon pre-cancer stage. Beyond devastation, he started a long journey of medical care and treatment plans. It was his music and drumming that allowed him to keep his state of mind in shape. By age 22, he was told that his entire large intestine would have to be surgically removed in order to live and continue with his career. At UCLA Medical Center on November 21st, 1981, with his family by his side, a total procto-colectomy was performed removing his diseased colon.

During a year of complete recuperation, Keith continued to keep his focus on music by playing his drums to regain his stamina and energy.

With several performances in front of him, he was playing music as if nothing ever happened. By 1992, Keith was struck again by startling news - what he thought was a bad case of intestinal flu turned out to be a full-blown bowel obstruction that almost took his life. After one month in the hospital, he used the next six months of recuperation to sharpen his drum chops to performance skill. He surprised doctors and audiences with his positive thinking, personality and flare for life as a drummer.

In years to follow, Keith still keeps his busy pace with projects by assembling a 12 piece band, E’nuff Said. Working with Jarold Davis, the bass lead guitarist from E’nuff Said, Keith was asked to join Jarold’s jazz-fusion group named Soup City.

E’nuff Said is currently in the process of returning to the studio to work on a new project. In between projects, both bands perform and conduct clinic work in schools, colleges, and music stores, while endorsing several music manufacturers.

Keith has extensive performance, clinic, and tour experience, including being a faculty member for the Ventura County Performing Arts Foundation. He has created programs such as “Fun With Drums,“ and “Drums Not Guns.“

Keith is also the innovator of what he calls the “Blind Real Feel“ drum set teaching technique which requires students to attempt their practice sessions while blindfolded in order to sharpen listening skills, provoking tempo techniques that diminishes inadequacies and interferences. This helps the students learn placement of the drums by instinct. Keith maintains a busy teaching schedule in addition to all of his music endeavors.

Keith also is continuing his work as an author on his upcoming book about his life’s story titled, “Love, Life, and the Ostomy.“

Clinics: Keith continues to perform on all levels, but always enjoys his clinic work in schools, colleges, and music stores. He continues his efforts with Drum / Music workshops with the support of several music manufacturer endorsements.

Playing Styles: Keith plays all styles of music, including his favorites, Funk, Rock, and Jazz. Keith uses GMS “SE“ Series Drums with DW Hardware.